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Drake has always been one to keep his eye on the pulse of music, and now, he’s showing love to an emerging pop star. The 6 God shouted out Gracie Abrams on his Instagram Story on Tuesday (March 11), which had social media buzzing.
Drizzy spotlighted Abrams’ “I Knew It, I Know You” from the singer’s sophomore album, The Secret of Us, and more specifically, the beat switch that he was feeling.
“[GOAT]’d beat switch on this,” he wrote. “Second half is [sad emoji, brain exploding emoji, blue heart emoji].”
Fans had plenty to say about the idea of Drake and Gracie aligning after seeing him praise the guitar-driven 2024 tune produced by Aaron Dessner.
“Well, at least he has good taste in music,” one person wrote to X. Another chimed in, “We live in the timeline where DRAKE posts about GRACIE ABRAMS!”
The OVO faithful have also found their way to the “I Knew It, I Know You” music video and flooded the comments section.
Drake has been showing love to the pop stars in recent weeks, as he shouted out fellow Canadian Tate McRae as well as Charli XCX on $ome $exy $ongs 4 U track “Small Town Fame.”
“B—h, I feel like Tate McRae/ Puttin’ Charli up her nose, X on her tongue, she been geekin’ hard/ She done had a Brat summer,” he raps.
Abrams released her The Secret of Us album last June. The 25-year-old’s sophomore LP peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and was Billboard‘s No. 16 album on our 50 Best Albums of 2024 list.
See Drake’s Instagram Story below.
https://twitter.com/chriscznn/status/1899614961288016211
Little Monsters everywhere are loving Lady Gaga‘s latest album Mayhem, but in a new interview, Mother Monster revealed that one of the most talked-about songs on the record almost didn’t make it into the final product.
Appearing on Las Culturistas With Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, Gaga revealed to the pair that she almost removed late-album standout “How Bad Do U Want Me” from the Mayhem tracklist. “Oh my god, I almost didn’t put that on the album,” she told the hosts. “I was not sure that I should put that on the record, and Michael [Polansky, her fiancé] was like, ‘You have to — your fans are going to love that song.’”
When both Rogers and Yang expressed their dismay at the thought of “How Bad” being cut, Gaga revealed that it’s not the only beloved pop song of hers to nearly get the axe. “Sometimes, when things are really super pop, I just get a weird reaction [to them],” she said. “I felt this way about [The Fame‘s] ‘Just Dance,’ so thank God I didn’t listen to myself then.”
In explaining “How Bad,” Gaga broke down how she’s always felt pigeonholed as “the bad girl” throughout her life, and how she wanted to break that cycle in her current relationship. “I’ve always been at war with this feeling that, if I am interested in someone, they’re actually longing for a ‘good girl,’ but they’re stuck with me,” she said. “There is no actual other good girl, the good girl is in their head, and they’re kind of comparing me the whole time.”
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging interview, Gaga, Rogers and Yang talked about the importance of Saturday Night Live as an institution for both up-and-coming artists and pop stars. In fact, Gaga revealed that before her hilarious performance of “D–k in a Box” with Andy Samberg at the SNL50 concert, she felt a lot of pressure to get it right.
“It’s so funny, at the SNL50 concert the other night, I was nervous to do ‘D–k in a Box,’” she said. “I feel like, if you’re a comedian, being asked to do ‘Who’s on First?’ is probably really [nerve-wracking], and to me, ‘D–k in a Box’ is a classic. So I was like, ‘Oh my god, why did I do this?’ But as I was walking through [Radio City Music Hall], I remembered the last time I had been there was with Tony [Bennett]. And Tony would have said, ‘If you are nervous, it’s because you care.’”
Check out Gaga’s full episode of Las Culturistas below:
A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by R. Kelly’s former assistant against Netflix and Lifetime over how she was portrayed in the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” ruling that the networks are protected by the First Amendment.
The lawsuit from Diana Copeland, who says she worked for Kelly for more than a decade, claimed that the doc series “depicts her in a sinister and defamatory light” – including falsely suggesting that she had helped the now-convicted singer prey on young women.
But in a ruling Tuesday, Judge Stephanos Bibas said Copeland had failed to clear the “high bar” for filing libel cases over newsworthy subjects: “The First Amendment demands ‘adequate breathing space’ for the free flow of ideas, especially about public figures on matters of public controversy.”
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The judge dismissed the lawsuit, but gave Copeland a chance to refile an updated version of her lawsuit. In a statement to Billboard, her attorney said she would successfully do so: “In this new streaming world, platforms like Netflix and documentarians need to be held accountable for any damages caused to people by slander in their content.”
An attorney for Lifetime and Netflix did not immediately return a request for comment.
Released in early 2019 as a six-part documentary series, “Surviving R. Kelly” helped push the longstanding abuse allegations against Kelly back into the public eye. Later that same year, the singer was indicted by federal prosecutors on a slew of criminal charges, eventually resulting in convictions on racketeering, sex trafficking and child pornography and decades-long prison sentences.
Copeland sued last year, with her attorneys claiming that episodes of the Lifetime documentary, which was later added to Netflix’s catalog, “paint Ms. Copeland as Mr. Kelly’s co-conspirator and accomplice in victimizing children and young women.”
But in Tuesday’s decision dismissing those claims, Judge Bibas ruled that Copeland was a so-called public figure — a status that makes it very hard to win a defamation lawsuit.
Under landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings, someone like Copeland must show that Lifetime acted with “actual malice,” meaning the network either knew its claims were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. That difficult-to-meet standard is designed to prevent government officials, business execs and other powerful people from abusing libel suits to stifle free speech.
Copeland had argued that she was no celebrity and simply wanted to “lead a private life” despite her work for Kelly. But Judge Bibas pointed out that she had appeared on Good Morning America to discuss the allegations and defend her conduct: “By going on national TV to discuss Kelly, Copeland voluntarily injected herself into the public discourse [and] invited public attention, comment, and criticism.”
As a public figure, the judge said Copeland’s case would only succeed if she could show “actual malice” – and he said had not done so in her court filings.
“The actual-malice standard shields publishers from liability for mistakes, while still preserving defamation remedies where the publisher knew that he was publishing falsehoods or deliberately ignored the truth,” the judge wrote. “Copeland fails to clear that high bar. The complaint offers only conclusions and speculation of ill will, not allegations of actual malice.”
For similar reasons, the judge also tossed out other allegations of the case, including that the documentary inflicted emotional distress and misappropriated her name and likeness. But the entire ruling came “without prejudice,” meaning Copeland can refile her case with changes in an effort to fix the problems Judge Bibas identified: “Perhaps Copeland can cure these defects.”
At this point, even Billy Corgan isn’t sure what is real life and what is fantasy. Since the Smashing Pumpkins singer appeared on Howie Mandel’s Does Stuff podcast in November and revealed that his stepmother once told him that comedian Bill Burr might be one of his half-brothers after Mandel accidentally put a photo of the stand-up instead of the rocker, things have gotten progressively weirder.
After the two men were then surprised by Mandel when he had them unexpectedly meet for the first time in person on his pod earlier this year, Corgan, 57, told People magazine that the meet-weird was not a bit, but actually the real thing.
“It was one of those rare moments where I think all three of us really didn’t know where it was going. And you see that, and that’s what makes it sort of interesting,” Corgan said of the episode Mandel dubbed “Family Reunion with Bill Burr & Billy Corgan.”
“There’s enough energy there that that’s why it’s not a bit, because it’s really about confronting something in a way that none of us really knew what that confrontation would lead to, and you see it play out,” he continued. “You see jokes, but you also see kind of like, oh, there’s something there.”
It was so real, in fact, that Corgan said some close friends still ask him about the interaction, and ask for receipts. “A really good friend of mine said to me, looking around, ‘Okay, now tell me the truth.’ And I said, ‘I don’t think so. I don’t think we’re related,’” Corgan said. “And then my friend said, ‘Well, I think you are.’ And I said, ‘Well, I guess it’s possible because he really does look like my father in a way that’s almost shocking to me.’ So then my friend goes, ‘Well then get a DNA test.’”
While Corgan has heard stories about his late musician father — William Corgan, who died in 2021 — allegedly having a number of children out of wedlock, the rocker said one of the intriguing things about the potential mid-life reveal of a half-brother in 56-year-old fellow chrome dome Burr is that there is no definitive answer for now.
“It’s taken on a life of its own. It’s sort of strange,” Corgan said. “It really started from honest things, which are, my father may have fathered 12 other children, and the facts of Bill’s life actually do match the story that I was told. There’s no invention there.”
Burr was audibly and visibly upset by the unannounced family reunion, lambasting his longtime friend Mandel, and almost walking out of the interview in protest. “He’s bringing it here, not because he’s trying to heal the bulls–t that we went through growing up. He’s getting here just for the f–king ratings,” Burr said of Mandel during the awkward appearance.
Mandel did eventually leave the room and the two men traded stories about the man they both described as their dad, though Burr initially was not able to let go of his anger about the surprise. Asking what Mandel thought was going to happen, Burr wondered, “Are we going to play catch? We’re both in our 50s!”
Mandel later apologized for the unexpected bit, saying on a subsequent pod, “I feel horrible and I’m sorry, Bill. I’m sorry, Billy. I only tried to do something good,” noting that at that point in early February he had not heard a “peep” from his longtime friend Burr.
This is partner content. “Brilla Conmigo” is a short-form video series featuring Latin artists Elena Rose, Mariangela and Joaquina, showcasing how beauty, health and wellness fuel their creativity. Through candid conversations, they discuss how self-care, cultural pride and personal empowerment nurture confidence, which plays a key role in their artistry. Partnering with Invisalign to enhance […]
Earlier this week, Ariana Grande announced a deluxe version of her Eternal Sunshine album — but it turns out she had more tricks up her sleeve. On Wednesday (March 12), the pop star revealed that she also has a short film coming the same day as the expanded LP titled Brighter Days Ahead. Sharing the […]
March Madness is just around the corner, and NCAA and TNT Sports Live Events announced on Wednesday (March 12) the star-studded line-up of artists performing at 2025 NCAA March Madness Music Festival in conjunction with the Division I Men’s Final Four. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The […]
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It appears Wendy Williams might be one step closer to gaining unsupervised release. She was taken to a hospital after dropping a note from her assisted living facility.
As per The Huffington Post Wendy Williams took matters into her own hands on Monday, March 10. According to reports she dropped a written note from her window asking the public for aid. “Help! Wendy!!” the piece of paper read. She was then spotted waving her hands to the public and reporters who were on the scene. These tactics proved successful as local police and an ambulance soon arrived at the property located in Midtown Manhattan.
According to The New York Post she was then escorted by lawmen into a vehicle which whisked her away to Lenox Hill Hospital. There medical professionals ran independent tests to examine her cognitive skills. TMZ is exclusively reporting that they have spoken to a source close to the situation and say that Wendy Williams aced the test with a perfect score. While this might be a small win for Wendy those results vary greatly from the assessment made by completed by her guardian.
In 2023 the media personality was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Wendy Williams is set to appear on The View on Friday, Mar. 14. You can see footage of Wendy Williams being escorted to the hospital below.
Metallica will be seriously in your face come this Friday (March 14). The heavy metal legends announced on Tuesday (March 11) that their 2024 Mexico City show has been optimized as an immersive experience on the Apple Vision Pro headset. The concert featuring such beloved hits as “Enter Sandman,” “One” and “Whiplash” will be beamed […]
The landscape for top music executives remains overwhelmingly white and male, according to a new report by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which notes that representation at the highest levels of the music industry have remained minimal despite declarations of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in by major music companies in 2020 — with many of them performing worse today than when data was last collected in 2021.
On Wednesday (March 12), Dr. Stacy L. Smith and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released their second Inclusion in the Music Business report — in partnership with Believe and Tunecore — that focuses on the gender and racial/ethnic identity of music executives, with data pulled from a survey of 2,793 executives across 106 music companies.
In one key finding, 86.8% of top executives (i.e. CEOs and presidents) at a smaller subset of 37 major and independent music companies were men, while 92.1% were white. All three non-white executives, two of whom were women of color, ran independent companies.
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“Much has been made of the ‘Year of the Woman’ in music, highlighting the work of artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Chappell Roan or Sabrina Carpenter,” the report reads. “While the music stage may be perceived as increasingly open to women artists, the executive ranks have maintained the status quo. Women fill fewer than 20% of top leadership positions and are still rarely part of senior leadership teams at top companies.”
“In comparison to 2021, there was no increase in the percentage of senior executives who were women, people of color, or women of color in these roles — in fact, the percentage of underrepresented top executives decreased,” the report adds.
In focusing on just six major music companies (Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Spotify, iHeartMedia and SiriusXM), the report discovered that just a third of all senior management executives at those companies were women, while 16.7% were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group. In total, there were just eight women of color working in those roles, amounting to 10.3%.
In a broader analysis of senior leaders across the 106 companies — boiled down to 77 companies when taking into account subsidiaries — men held 84.4% of CEO/president roles while women held just 15.6%. The majority of those top executives (82.2%) were white, while just 17.8% were from underrepresented groups. Women of color held just 4.4% of these top roles.
According to the report, among all companies surveyed, the presence of women executives falls significantly as the level of responsibility increases. Across the executive hierarchy categories of chief/president, executive vp/senior vp/GM and vp/head, women are most likely to hold positions at the vp/head level at 43.9%. This percentage drops to 38.1% of executive vp/senior vp/GM roles, while the percentage falls further, to 25.6%, at the chief/president position.
A similar pattern is found for underrepresented executives, who make up 25.9% of vp/head roles but only 19.7% and 21% of executive vp/senior vp/GM and chief/president roles, respectively. Only 10% of all executives in these categories were women of color.
The report suggests that the lack of female representation in higher roles could be due to two primary consequences of gendered leadership beliefs. “The first is that [women] may not be projected into leadership positions because they are not perceived to have the traditionally masculine traits associated with leadership,” the report reads. “The second is that when women do behave in ways that violate their gender role, perhaps by exhibiting leader-like behavior, they are punished. Thus women may be excluded from promotions for reasons that are not based on their actual performance but on gender role expectations that still play a role in how they are evaluated.”
Dr. Smith and her team (which includes report authors Dr. Katherine Pieper, Zoe Moore and Sam Wheeler) also broke the findings down by five sectors: music groups, record labels, publishing, streaming and music distribution.
The music distribution sector has the highest percentage of women executives (47.8%), which is significantly greater than the other four company types, none of which reached 40%. Women fill 39.4% of executive positions at record labels, 38.3% at music groups, 37.6% in publishing and 37.2% at streaming companies.
Alternatively, record labels are a leader in underrepresented executives, who make up 30.1% of executive roles at labels. That percentage still lags behind proportional representation with the U.S. population (at 41.6% underrepresented, according to U.S. Census data) but is better than music groups (25.1%), music distribution (23.1%), streaming (17.9%) and publishing companies (16.3%). “Compared to the 2021 analysis, the current landscape shows a significant decline in the representation of underrepresented executives within the streaming sector,” the report reads. “There were no meaningful changes for the other industry categories.”
A closer look at women of color in executive roles indicates that record labels (13.4%) were significantly more likely than streaming (7.5%) and publishing (6.9%) companies to be inclusive of underrepresented women in leadership. Music groups (11.8%) and music distribution companies (9.9%) held a middle position.
“The lack of underrepresented executives in key leadership roles is particularly disappointing because in recent years, finding ways to promote talented people of color has been a priority for the industry,” the report states. “Efforts to address ongoing gaps have included the launch of industry-wide coalitions, task forces, and company-specific plans. Despite this, the underlying biases that thwart hiring and promotion have clearly not been addressed. To see more underrepresented leaders in the music industry, valuing the abilities, insights, and leadership traits that people of color bring to these roles is essential.”
For women of color, the hurdles to reach the top echelons of the music industry remain the highest. Among the smaller subset of 37 music companies, a mere 5.3% of the highest-ranked executives and 10.3% of senior management teams are composed of women of color.
“The lack of women of color in leadership roles stands in contrast to the strong showing of women of color as artists and songwriters over the past several years,” the report states. “Clearly the music industry values women of color — but not the ways that women of color lead.”
The report offers three actionable opportunities for change. First, it recommends using specific and measurable criteria in the hiring, evaluation and promotion process. Second is to create pathways to promotion that account for the different experiences needed to lead well while ensuring that performance metrics are met. The third is to pursue solutions that are sector-driven.
“The music industry has faced a difficult season with layoffs across multiple companies,” the report states. “Additionally, the wider cultural moment is dismissive or even hostile to so-called DEI initiatives, creating wariness or even abandonment of principles and activities designed to cultivate and foster talent. Despite these challenges, the music business need not forego adopting strategies that will allow for the most qualified employees to rise to positions of greater responsibility and leadership, no matter their identity.”
Check out the full report, including additional information on solutions, here.